Saturday, June 7, 2014

There are certain times when all the late night wakings, diaper changes, and cleaning food off the floor, in a instant, all seem worthwhile.

Of course, having kids you always know it's worthwhile, but it's often stuck in the back of your head while you are dealing with the above mentioned 'dirty jobs'.

On Sunday morning I was doing another of those unsavory jobs, loading the dishwasher, when Mrs. LIAYF called from the other room "Go show Daddy, Annabelle". I then looked over at our dining room, and around the corner pattered my 18mo girl, followed closely by her mother.

She was holding a picture of me, from a few years ago, framed in a sunshine frame.

I was apparently giving the sun it's glow too, because she was holding it closely to her chest. "She looked at it and said 'Daddy!' with a smile" Mrs. LIAYF let me know. I smiled at that too, as she reached me with the picture standing there next to the dishwasher.

And if her happily recognizing a picture of me wasn't heartwarming enough, my little girl then bent her head over, pulled the picture up to her mouth, and kissed it! It was one of those toddler kisses where there is not real puckering, just an open mouth gently placed onto the picture.

Mrs. LIAYF and I both let out an "Ahhhhhhhh". Yes, it was that cute.

Annabelle has been very affectionate of late. Not that she wasn't before, but lately she is much more likely to hug back when held close, snuggle (just this morning she stopped before we left for daycare to make sure she snuggled up with her mother for several minutes before we left), and generally show off her tender side.

Of course, she still has her trademark sense of humor too. After kissing my photo yesterday, she proceeded to toddle over and place it in the dishwasher next to the dirty plates. She looked proud of that.